Paul Mills, left, and John Moore, right, begin a power walk in the rain Tuesday on Main Street in Farmington. Mills has walked or run everyday for the past two years.

FARMINGTON — Neither snow, wind, rain nor sleet keeps Paul Mills from a daily power walk or run.

For 465 days it has been a power walk and for 267 days, a run, he said Tuesday. He journals each day to keep track.

He realized a few weeks ago that the streak was nearing two years.

“It began in Boston with some jogging partners of mine the morning the city was beginning to be quarantined because one of the marathon bombers was at large,” he said.

A local lawyer, Mills is a member of the Maine Board of Bar Examiners. He went to Boston for the national convention just three days after the marathon bombing, he said.

It was held in the Copley Square Marriott just a few hundred feet from the bombing. Several blocks were closed, but the hotel managed to stay open, he said.

That Thursday, after the Monday bombing, he went to bed without watching the news. It had started to become redundant, he said.

He got up early and joined four friends for a jog, unaware that the city had shut down while police searched for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the younger suspect in the bombing.

“It was eerie. The streets were empty,” he said. “I asked, ‘What is going on?'”

In the aftermath of the bombing, the atmosphere of Boston, the flowers on the street, the National Guard troops and the news reports were an inspirational event, Mills said.

He had no expectations and did not set a goal. He hoped to go beyond the streak of 43 straight days he completed in 2006.

That was mostly walking, but with reinforcement from friends and colleagues he has started jogging more in the past couple of years, he said.

“John Moore has encouraged me and taught me to speed up,” Mills said as they started a walk in a cold, heavy rain early Tuesday morning. “He’s been a mentor and a trainer to me.”

Moore and Andy Lesko, among others, have often joined Mills on his daily trek. But he often completes it by himself, he said.

Although he had never raced competitively before, he competed in 11 5-kilometer races since starting two years ago.

But the outdoors and health have become the emphasis.

The fresh, cold air is invigorating, he said. It is also therapeutic. The walk and fresh air drive up serotonin and endorphin levels, he said. Over the two years, he has only had three brief colds.

Mills varies the time of day for the trek. Sometimes when he’s feeling tired, a brisk walk makes him feel re-energized. It’s better than taking a nap, he said.

Sometimes traction on slippery winter roads can be a challenge. Ice and the late winter cold have driven him inside a few times, fewer than 10, for a walk at the University of Maine at Farmington Health and Fitness Center.

“It is not for everyone and not feasible for everyone. Other people have their own ways to stay healthy and fit but for me, this is it,” he said.

Sometimes a little yoga, swimming or tennis are added to the daily regimen.

Mills said he has no presumption that he will go on for any length of time nor is he so focused that he feels he has to do it.

But he is grateful that he has been able to keep the streak going and hopes to continue.

abryant@sunmediagroup. net